Sit back and smell the coffee at MegaBites Cafe in Westville (video)

Peter Casolino/Register photo: Visitors to Brian Perkins' MegaBites Cafe in the Westville section of New Haven are treated to book signings, computers, Zumba classes and old films on Saturday mornings.

NEW HAVEN -- There's no such thing as a quick cup of coffee at the MegaBites Computer Cafe.

By design, each mug of java comes with some leisurely conversation, a relaxed recap of current events or a classic movie.

"The real goal is to open a place where people can slow down, rather than speed up," says Brian Perkins, who owns the business with his wife, Connie.

The Columbia University professor and former New Haven Board of Education chairman has spent the past six months carefully nurturing what he hopes will be an intellectual enclave in a small shopping plaza on Blake Street. He and Connie have tossed a variety of elements into the mix: book signings, computers, Zumba classes downstairs, a liquor license to sell beer and wine and a big-screen TV set on CNN -- when it isn't showing old films on Saturday mornings.

Advertisement

"There aren't very many places in the west section of town where people can have these discourses on what is going on in the country," Perkins says.

Still, for every patron who offers an opinion on the Trayvon Martin case or the U.S. Secret Service scandal, there's the couple from East Haven looking to fax a document or the lady who wants to sit with a glass of wine and study for her insurance license.

"MegaBites is an oasis of peace, quiet and good coffee within the Westville community," writes John M. Spielman of Shelton, a regular customer contacted via email. Spielman, who works as a visiting nurse, explains that MegaBites' friendly atmosphere makes it "easy to settle into the comfortable leather furniture or a good book (or both)."

Sarah House Knecht, a Southern Connecticut State University graduate who now lives in New York City, is a more recent convert. This is only her second visit.

"One of my friends works here and told me about it," she says. "It's nice to work without all of the background noise. You feel like you have a little more space."

For Perkins, 43, MegaBites represents a personal epiphany of sorts.

"I didn't realize the value of slowing down until the last six or seven years," he explains. "I got my doctorate at 26. I was going through my life very quickly. I was the youngest professor ever appointed tenure at Southern Connecticut State University. I was the youngest person appointed to the New Haven school board."

One day, while sitting in his car at a red light near Bassett Street, he happened to look around him and notice people going about their lives. He says it dawned on him that he'd spent his adult life waiting impatiently for lights to turn green, rather than enjoying where he was at any given moment.

That insight, he says, inspired MegaBites. He'd noticed the Blake Street space available for rent as early as 2007, and in 2011 he decided to act.

He's set up armchairs around a small fireplace, created a "laptop bar" along one wall, put up framed photographs of New York City, and arranged other furniture and tables so customers can work and interact.

"This is completely unrelated to what I do for a living," he laughs. "It's not enough to just be a coffee shop. What I want to do here is make connections for people."